Harlem Renaissance and Africa

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HARLEM RENAISSANCE AND AFRICA

By the end of the 19th century, Black Americans had long been out of the shackles

of slavery, but they felt that the majority white population had not accepted them as

freemen, entitled to progress and compete for their place in the society. A large black

elite, educated, prosperous and professionals to the core had also developed by then.

Some recognized themselves to be black but there were also those who believed

themselves to be not-Negro. Famous American writer Jean Toomer, for example, did

not want to be recognized as black. Toomer was reluctant to have his work incorporated

in Alain Lockes book New Negro and in an interview remarked that "I have not lived

as [a Negro], nor do I really know whether there is any colored blood in me or not" (Jean

Toomers Washington and the Politics of Class, 2006].

But even then, the new breed of black and colored aristocrats was not accepted by

the American society of the time. White socialite, Mrs. John Logan noted in 1901 that

"no matter to what degree of affluence, education, or culture a colored man may rise,

neither he nor his family will have any social relations with white people" [cited in Jean

Toomers Washington and the Politics of Class, 2006]. The new educated, proud and

urbane African American was in sharp contrast to the rural, ignorant and humble Negro

plantation worker. They were unwilling to give up their rights as Americans. Du Bois

asserted, Whether you like it or not the millions (blacks) are here, and here they willremain. If you do not lift them up, they will pull you down. Education and work are the

levers to uplift a people [Bauerlein, 2004]

The new enlightened and self-aware blacks began to be assertive; if they were not

going to be accepted as Americans on equal terms, they would rather go back to Africa,

from where they had been forcibly brought to America. Soon, the Black Americans of the

period began to declare their pride in their African descent. Countee Cullens declaring

his desire to strip and dance when the rain begins to fall shows that African

Americans were recognizing their connections with Africa [Jackson, 1978]. Cullen

proudly recognizes his African origin - Women from whose loins I sprang (Heritage,

Countee Cullen).

I believe that Africa became a symbol of black identity, an expression of the

anger of black Americans against their plight in America a kind of rebellion that the


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African Americans wanted to put up against the discrimination faced by them. The noted

African American, Alain Lockes New Negro described this new found spirit of black

Americans and gave the movement its name, New Negro Movement. The term

Renaissance (re-birth) was also used first by Locke.

The Harlem Renaissance was characterized during the 1920s and 1930s by an

outpouring of literature and intellectual thought from black artists and activists who

helped define black pride and identity in a society dominated by whites. Harlem played

an important role in the development of ideas, styles, language and culture.

The Harlem Renaissance looked to Africa and black American culture for

inspiration. Africa was seen and respected as the homeland of African American people.

The new proud black American began to celebrate and respect the places of his origin:

the south and Africa. Many of the literary and art work of the period based its themes on

Africa or the south. The image of Africa was upgraded and redefined - The sciences

were sucklings at thy breast; [Africa, Claude McKay]. McKay asserts that the African

Americans are descendents of Africa which was civilized even before the rest of the

world was not.

When all the world was young in pregnant night

Thy slaves toiled at thy monumental best.

Thou ancient treasure-land, thou modern prize,

New peoples marvel at thy pyramids!

[Africa, Claude McKay].

Africa features again and again in Claude McKays poetry, with bitterness and

anger regarding the enslavement of free people and robbing the black Americans of their

roots, the disinherited Black Land.

OH when I think of my long-suffering race,

For weary centuries despised, oppressed,

Enslaved and lynched, denied a human place

In the great life line of the Christian West;

The Harlem Renaissance literature and arts uses Africa as a symbol of African

American identity but unlike Garveys Back to Africa Movement, there is a realism that


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they cannot go back to Africa: the new culture they have got used to will never let them

free.

But the great western world holds me in fee,

And I may never hope for full release

While to its alien gods I bend my knee.

Something in me is lost, forever lost,

(Outcast, Claude McKay)

McKays poetry romanticizes life in Africa and the continent appears to be a

beautiful place where African Americans, now tied to this new land, would not have

faced any problems. His poem Bondage portrays Africa as a place where life is free of

problems and yet, the blacks can not go back.

Countee Cullens poem, Africa, also shows Africa as a land of natural beauty,

which was taken away from him some three centuries ago. His first volume of poetry,

Color, examines the issue of race in America. It also examines racial heritage, portraying

Africa and its relevance to African Americans.

However, not all writers of the period shared the enthusiasm for Africa. Zola

Hurstons political views set her apart from the rest of the Harlem Renaissance scholars:

she had conservative political views and did not believe in glorifying Africa because it

was the Africans themselves who had sold fellow Africans as slaves. She recalled an ex-

slave telling her how people of another tribe took over his village and sold him to white

slavers. Zola Hurston was a writer and folklorist, whose anthropological study of her

racial heritage at a time when black culture was not a popular field of study influenced

the Harlem Renaissance writers. Zola Hurstons research on development of southern

black speech is regarded as a major literary contribution of the period. She showed that

black speech was a mixture of Elizabethan and western African mannerisms - In short,

the trickster-hero of West Africa has been transplanted to America. (Characteristics of

Negro Expression, Hurston)

Pueblo Picassos use of a Bantu face mask in hisLes Demoiselles dAvignon,

recognized as the signature painting of cubism, popularized African sculpture and

African Art in Europe and also had a major effect on Harlem Renaissance artists. Hughes

argued that the black artist had to express himself and he should not worry whether his


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work is appreciated by whites or not. "We younger Negro artists who create now intend

to express our individual dark-skinned selves without fear or shame"Hughes said.

[Brotherman, 2006]

Inspired by these ideals, Afro-American artists began to use an African style and

suggest themes such as the African past and liberation for African Americans in their

work. Aaron Douglas used African Masks and black men as central symbolic figures.

Palmer Hayden and Archibald Motley depicted, among other things, folklore, African

American social life and strongly African features. In sculpture, Richmond Barthe and

Meta Warrick Fuller excelled with themes related to Africa and the beauty of the

common Black man [Temporary Exhibitions, 2006]

I believe that the Harlem Renaissance was the time of an increased awareness and

a search for an identity for the African American. As black Americans believed that in

white America the black slave history was holding back their progress and that they

would not be recognized as equals in America, Africa became a symbol of identification

for the blacks during this period.


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1. Bauerlein, M, Washington, Du Bois, and the Black Future, The Wilson Quarterly.

Volume: 28. Issue: 4. Autumn 2004.

2. Jean Toomers Washington and the Politics of Class: From "Blue Veins" toSeventh-Street Rebels retrieved from Internet on 20 February 2005,

http://newark.rutgers.edu/~bfoley/jean_toomers_washington.html

3. Jackson, C., Harlem Renaissance: Pivotal Period in the Development of Afro-

American Culture, 1978, Retrieved from Internet on 19 th February 2006,

4. Brotherman, Modernism and the Harlem Renaissance, Retrieved from Internet on

19th February 2006,

5. Temporary Exhibitions , Retrieved from Internet on 19th February 2006,

http://www.kurahulanda.com/virtual_guide/temporary.html
http://newark.rutgers.edu/~bfoley/jean_toomers_washington.htmlhttp://www.kurahulanda.com/virtual_guide/temporary.htmlhttp://newark.rutgers.edu/~bfoley/jean_toomers_washington.htmlhttp://www.kurahulanda.com/virtual_guide/temporary.html

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Harlem Renaissance and Africa